The second set of increases is the sunsetting of the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. When they lapse, taxes will go up by $500 billion in 2013. The alternative minimum tax will hit not today's 4 million families, but 30 million. The lowest income tax rate will jump 50%, from 10% to 15%. The top rate will jump from 35% to 39.6%, plus the new 3.8% ObamaCare tax surcharge: total 43.4%.

These pending tax increases have brought renewed focus on the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a written commitment to constituents signed by state and federal politicians that they will vote against net tax increases. The pledge was written in 1986 to protect that year's Tax Reform Act from becoming a Trojan horse for tax increases. It worked.

Putting it in writing

Before the pledge, politicians made promises. They'd say they did not intend to raise taxes but would also hedge the promise with weasel words. After they were elected, it was difficult to hold such a politician to his word. But because the pledge is clear, written, signed and witnessed, it is possible for voters and journalists to hold politicians accountable.

Opponents of the pledge fear it because it works. President George H.W. Bush was a successful president. He managed the collapse of the Soviet Union and expelled Iraq from Kuwait. But Bush had signed the pledge, declaring, "Read my lips, no new taxes." But then he broke his word, agreeing to raise taxes $1 for every $2 of promised spending cuts. Taxes went up, but spending did not go down. Bush lost the next election.

Clear impact

As a result, voters and elected officials understood the power of the pledge. Voters knew that lawmakers would sign it only if they really meant it. For 22 years, from 1990 until today, no Republican has voted for a federal income tax increase. At the state level, many governors have signed and kept the pledge to oppose tax hikes, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has governed without a tax hike for 12 years.

When tax hikes are off the table, then and only then do officials focus on reforming spending. The reforms in Wisconsin that saved taxpayers billions were led by Gov. Scott Walker, who signed and kept the pledge. Florida's Rick Scott has reduced overspending, saying no to those who would raise taxes instead of reforming government spending.

Those who want to raise taxes rather than reform government see the Taxpayer Protection Pledge as a roadblock. President Obama wants to hike taxes $1.6 trillion in addition to his $1 trillion dollars of ObamaCare tax hikes he "conveniently" delayed until after his re-election. He wants to have another round of stimulus spending. He would raise taxes to keep spending.

The people who are attacking the pledge in the name of good government are doing the exact opposite: Nothing good comes from making politicians feel more free to break their promises.

Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform, the group that promotes the pledge.

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